Curb Your 'Austin Powers 4' Enthusiasm
In your news out of Hollywood this morning: Disney's abrupt decision to delay The Lone Ranger is deemed all about the money, New Line executives are surprised by all this Austin Powers 4 talk, and the Writers Guild goes to bat to stop a Bring It On musical.
Why did Disney halt production on producer Jerry Bruckheimer's big-screen version of The Lone Ranger starring Johnny Depp that was set to start filming in October? The Hollywood Reporter says it was "all due to budgetary concerns, not creative differences." The Los Angeles Times seconds that assessment, saying that money was the "main concern" in the decision, but adds there were "other doubts" about the project, including "appeal to an international audience, the viability of the western, [and] Bruckheimer's mixed recent record." [The Hollywood Reporter and the Los Angeles Times]
Hitfix reported on Friday that Mike Myers and New Line Cinema had reached an agreement on Austin Powers 4, but Deadline followed on Saturday with its own sources who say, "no deal has been signed" and "top New Line brass are surprised the whole thing has reared up after they made Myers an offer six months to a year ago" and didn't get a response. [Deadline]
Singer Patti Smith is teaming up with Any Given Sunday screenwriter John Logan for a screenplay based on her 2010 memoir Just Kids. The book, which won the National Book Award for nonfiction last year, details Smith's relationship with photographer Robert Maplethorpe when they were both starting out in New York City in the late 1960s and early-1970s. [Deadline]
The Writers Guild of America filed a claim on behalf screenwriter Jessica Bendinger asserting that the new stage version of Bring It On, set to open in October, is a violation of the guild's separated rights provision, which "delineate various rights that are reserved to screen and television writers under specified circumstances." Bendinger wrote the screenplay for the 2000 cheerleading film and says she's been developing her own stage version of the show for the last six years [The Hollywood Reporter]
In its "first major move ... since separating from Time Warner in 2009," Time Warner Cable is planning to acquire Insight Communications for $3 billion in cash. The move will add an estimated 750,000 customers--"mainly in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio"--to the company's subscriber base. [The Wrap]
